CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday his government will manufacture "Bolivarian computers" affordable to all Venezuelans -- the latest initiative in honor of a Latin American independence hero that inspires his leftist revolution.

"We will begin producing computers in Venezuela ... the project of the Bolivarian computers," Chavez said in televised remarks.

Chavez says he is leading his country toward a socialist revolution inspired by Simon Bolivar, a 19th-century independence hero who sought to unite South American nations.

The Venezuelan leader, who is a fierce critic of capitalism, said that brand name computers are too expensive and that the project seeks to make computers more accessible to all Venezuelans.

The Bolivarian computers will sell for anywhere between 900,000 bolivars and 1 million bolivars, Chavez said.

Under his "Bolivarian Revolution," Chavez has launched a range of socialist-inspired initiatives, including free education promoting leftist ideology at campuses across the country and deals to supply oil on preferential terms to Venezuela's neighbors as part of a "Bolivarian Alternative" trade pact.

A new company will be created, Technological Industries of Venezuela, that will form a joint venture with China's Lang Chao International Ltd. to produce the computers.

Venezuela will provide an initial investment of 17.2 billion bolivars, Chavez said.

The company is expected to begin production before the end of the year and plans to produce as much as 80,000 computers in the first year, said Chavez.

A total of 100,000 should be produced during the second year of operations and as much as 150,000 during the third year, according to the president.

The president said the new computer company will eventually manufacture laptop computers and cell phones as well.

His announcement comes about a week after Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers unveiled the design for $100 laptop computers being developed for children in developing countries. The durable machines' AC adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there's no electricity, the researchers said.